LIENFELDEN-ECHTERDINGEN, Germany -- Sgt. Micah Terry claimed victory by unanimous decision after an intense three-round Muay Thai kickboxing match here July 31.
The fight, Terry’s first professional and fourth sanctioned match, brings the Marine Forces Europe guard force Marine to a record of 4-0.
The other fighter, Vüseyin Usta, outweighed the 6-foot-3-inch, 235-pound Richmond, Va., native by more than 70 pounds and stood more than three inches taller.
Terry, whose devastating and powerful strikes earned him the nickname Hell Hammer, compared the match to an epic struggle between man and beast.
“I felt like I had been wrestling a 500-pound bear for the last six minutes of my life,” Terry said. “I said to my self, I am either leaving this ring as the champ or I am not leaving it at all. I would rather have died than left defeated.”
The first round of the three-round match saw both fighters bringing as much intensity and effort as possible.
Violent collisions lead to forceful jockeying for inside strikes and throws, and both fighters landed multiple heavy-handed strikes to the faces and extremities of their opponents.
Terry said he had to rely on deep mental focus to push through the pain incurred in those first, fiery five minutes.
“I was in a tremendous amount of pain and I was doing all I could to conceal it from [my opponent],” Terry said. “I wanted to show him that nothing he tried could stop me, and it didn’t.”
Terry’s perseverance in the first round paid off, and through the second and third rounds his Turkish opponent’s fatigue grew more and more noticeable. Terry’s superior physical conditioning allowed him to punish Usta with heavy hands and powerful kicks.
“I knew I had landed more strikes and I decided to continue to push through and bring all I could possibly bring to his doorstep,” Terry said.
Supported by more than 70 members of his Marine Corps family in attendance at the fight, Terry said it was hard to describe how much he appreciated the support from his fellow Marines and friends.
“As I walked in and heard people chanting my name I knew at that point I was not only fighting for my dreams and goals,” Terry said. “I was fighting for all my brothers and sisters serving overseas. For all the Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen that have had to give up or put on hold their dreams and honor the oath they made to protect and serve our great nation.”
According to Terry, the victory pushed him from amateur to professional status in the International Sport Kickboxing Association and marks an important transition in his relatively new fighting careering.
Terry called his professional status a dream come true, but quickly added that he will begin to focus on a transition from Muay Thai to the world of mixed martial arts (MMA).
“From here I will continue to move forward in my professional kick boxing career but I will also be focusing more and more on my ground game and start to work my way from the bottom up on the MMA pyramid,” Terry said.
Terry’s victory also earned him a spot on the Take a Nap fight team, a company owned and operated by active duty Marines who look to support armed forces personnel and other individuals who are interested in combative sports.
“[With Terry,] I see a young man with a lot of potential that could go a long way with the right guidance and training,” said Take a Nap owner Corey S. Bennin, a Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton-based Marine. “Marines have that warrior spirit. So, by their nature they tend to excel at a sport like MMA or any of the combative sports for that matter.”
Terry is slated to compete in a five-day sanctioned tournament in Rome in early October, where he will compete in his first sanctioned amateur MMA event.